"We decided we had to have fantastic action and surf but also first rate drama so that the film holds up for even people who have very little interest in surfing."

"In the editing, we were always making sure that we held on a scene no longer or shorter than was needed to drive the action."

Pacing those separate elements of surf action and story, making them gel, was the editing priority, says Tim.

"Baseball bores me to tears but I love Moneyball because it was a really interesting film set in the world of baseball.

"It has to be a story that clicks on some other level. This is really a rags to riches story.

"It's about a couple of guys who start something in their back shed and then, despite everybody telling them they're not going to succeed, they do.

Aussies succeeding on a world stage makes for an exciting story, Tim feels. "This is what happened in the 60s. These guys were told many times that there's no such thing as a surf business. It's something you do on the weekend for a hobby.

The maverick guys who started Quiksilver and Billabong turned surfing "into their lives and their business and created something from nothing."

Garage to global domination stories can still happen, Tim believes. Social media sites started out as hobbies and became billion dollar businesses.

"I saw a guy in LA who loved video games and who has made his fortune selling stories for video games to Disney and the big players."

The marketplace

With editing finished, the task has been to sell the film, showing it to the bigger distributors who have been lining up to see the movies, says Tim.

"The sales agent has had a rough cut promo version for some time which the public would not see.

"They only sell the smaller territories, not the big ones. It's been selling well and there's a lot of interest in the big territories."

Distributors would be familiar with movie and the script, Tim explains. The last step for them is to view a film and calculate the potential for marketing around the world.

The Sam Worthington name in the credits is "very helpful", says Tim."He's high profile now in the US. He's one of the big stars.

"Everybody wants to know what he's up to next and that's Drift. Whatever help Sam can give us will be great."

A team effort

The Oscar award speech cliche is very true in film making, says Tim. "Each person is crucial. A film is only as good as its weakest link; whatever's not right stands out."

The community support contributed to a very successful shoot, he says, with locals acting as extras, stunt doubles, driving skis, building surf boards, "a myriad of things".

Drift was Tim's first feature film script and he's thrilled with the outcome.

Overall, the film exceeded his expectations, he says. "My job is my passion. This is an extension of a hobby when I was a kid - the super 8 camera in the back yard playing with my brother.

"This is the ultimate for me. I enjoy all my work but this was as good as it gets.

"As soon as I saw even the rushes, I was really happy. Margaret River looks amazing in the movie."

Margaret River is high on the priority list for film premieres. "Most films have multiple premieres," says Tim. "It depends on what the buyers say and how they strategise (publicity)."

With Drift safely in the can, Tim's attention can turn to his next projects. Again, WA will feature.

This first experience has been a happy one. "We think we got it right on this film," he says, "through calculation but also a little bit of luck you rely on as well."